Toothbrush



Patented Dec. 11, 1923.-

UNITED STATES HERMAN TAUB, 402E' NEW YORK, N. Y.

TOOTHBRUSH.

Application filed Hay 12,

To all 'whom t may concern Be it known that I, HERMAN TAUB, a citizen ofCzechoslovakia, and resident of New York city, in the county of New Yorkand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Tooth-p brushes, of which the following 'is a speciication.

The invention relates to a tooth brush for' cleaning the anterior orposterior faces of both rows of a persons teeth.

It is appreciated that tooth brushes of the usual construction have ahandle extending from and in line with the line of the bristles and thatitis necessary in brushing the anterior faces of the rows of teeth tobrush one side, of course, usually with one hand, and then reverse thehand to brush on the opposite side'of the teeth rows. With these brushestoo it is diicult, if not practically impossible, to brush therposterior or interior surfaces of the rows of teeth for the brush whichis desi ed as usual with a concaved brushing sur ace is obviouslyinapplicable to brush a concaved surface. Numerous attempt's have beenmade to meet these difliculties but invariably therehas resulted anunweilding article, the very difficulty incidental to its usecontributing to its unpopularit Y 5According the primary object of 'thisinvention is to provide a simpleV form of structure which can be easilyand readily manipulated tobrush both posterior and anterior surfaceswith either a lateral movement or with the vertical movement lengthwiseof the teeth sanctioned by the dental profession.

I attain this invention broadly by providing a double headed toothbrush, one head of which is provided with a brush surface fashioned tofit the posterior tooth surface and the other head of which is providedwith a brush surface fashioned to fit the anterior tooth surface whenthe teeth are in an almost closed position.

The invention also features a handle arrangement by means of which .thebrushing can be effected with one hand engaging the handle in a naturalposition and by means of which the person can lean over a basin or likereceptacle and ermit the cleansing liquid to low freely rom the mouthwithout danger of its discharging downl the persons arm.

1921. Serial No. 469,044.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a form of toothbrush which when employed to brush the anterior surface can be moved orat least guided by the tongue thus supplementing the manual actuation ofthe brush and insuring the possibility of the brush surface reaching allparts of the teeth structure.

Another object of the invention is to pro- -vide a form of tooth brushwhich can be accommodated in the mouth without materially distorting thecheeks or in any way tending to injure the gum structure in case ofcareless manipulation. i

Another'objert of the invention is to pro- .vide a form lof tooth brush4in which the the invention will be in part obvious from an inspectionof the accompanying drawings and in part will be more fully set forth inthe following particular description of one form of mechanismembodyingmy invention, and the invention also consists in certain newand novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter`set forth and claimed. y

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a tooth brushconstituting a preferred embodiment of the invention and showing theengagement of one of the heads with -the anterior surface of a row ofteeth shown lin ghost outline;

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation and partly in vertical section ofthe device shown 1n Figure l and showing how one of the heads is locatedbetween the persons lips in brushing the outside surfaces of the teeth;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the right hand head shown inFigure 1 disposed in position engaging the posterior surface of a row ofteeth shown 1n ghost outline and guided by a tongue shown in plan andsimilarly outlined; and

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken centrally throughthe showingin Figure 3 and showin the brushing srface'in engagement withe'partially closed rows lof teeth shown in g ost outline.

claims, parts will be identified by specific names for convenience ofexpression but In the following descriptionl and in the l Y 55 and isoutlined horizontally by the horn they are intended to be as generic intheir application to similar parts as the art will permit.

In the drawings there is shown a long flat handle 10 secured at oppositeends in arcuate cross heads 11 and 12. The head 11 is crescent shape inplan, as shown in Figure 1, and flat as shown in Figure 2 with thehandle 10 extending centrally from the convexed side thereof. Theopposite or cone-aved side 13 is provided with sets of bristles 14secured in place as is usual with approved forms of brush structures.The brushing surface 15 of the bristles is fiat in vertical section, asshown in Figure 2, but is eoncaved as shown inl Figure 1 and the curveis designed at least roughly to conform to the curvature ot' the rowself teeth of the person for whom the brush is intended. It will be, ofcourse, quite obvious that the brush when marketed will have to be madein different sizes to accommodate the varying curvatures of differentpersons teeth but in general practice four or five marketable sizes willbc Sullicient.

The opposite head 12 is also of crescent vshape in plan except that itis of proportionately smaller are than the head 11 and as shown in-Figure 2 has a greater vertical depth than the opposite head. Theconvexed side 16 of the head 12 is provided with sets of bristles 17which have a conveX brushing'surface curved in two directions at rightangles to each other, with one curvature 18 fashioned to -fit theposterior surface of the rows of teeth as shown in Figure 3 and with theother curve 19, that is the curve in the vertical plane when the....pbrilsh is in use,l having a curvature to fit at least approximatelythe surface form from point to root of the teeth when the rows arealmost in closed position as show-n in Figure 4.. The bristles in bothheads project from their respective heads in the same direction and thehandle 10 passes through the bristles 16 so as to bring an upper portion2O of the bristles 16 against the posterior surface of the upper row ofteeth and a portion of the bristles 21 against the corresponding lowerrow of teeth.

The'concaved outer side of the -head 12 is provided with al tonguereceiving recess 22. This recess is curved in twodirections portions 23and 24 of the head asy shown in Figure 3 and is outlined vertically bythe extensions 25 and 26 which are so arranged that the tongue engagingagainst the upper flange 25 can raise the portion of the brush withinthe mouth and correspondingly pressing down on the fiange 26 willdepress the portion of the brush in the mouth. Correspondingly almovement of the tongue to the right of left causes an engagement withthe horns of the head and in this way the tongue can assist in movingthe brush horizontally about the rows of teeth.

In operation and first referring to the showing at the left hand side ofFigure 1, it will be understood that the brush properly wet and chargedwith the cleansing substance, if desired, can be introduced between thelips and with the rows of teeth either opened or closed the brush can bemoved horizontally in opposite directions, as indicated by the doubleheaded arrow in Figure 1 or can be moved vertically, that is, lengthwiseof the teeth, as shown by the similar arrow in Figure 2.

The teeth can then be separated by opening the mouth with the head 12introduced back of the teeth and the rows of teeth brought almosttogether as shown in Figure 4. The brush can then be moved horizontallyas indicated by the arrow in Figure 3 this brushing both or either oneof the rows of teeth as shown in Figure 3 or the brush can be `movedvertically or rat-her moved about the tongue as a pivot to brush theteeth vertically as shown by the arrow in Figure 4.

It will be understood that the handle 10 is grasped between the fingersof one hand with the handle l0 extending at right angles toV theoperators forearm. In this way the user can lean over a basin or likereceptacle and any drippings from the mouth running down the handle 10will flow off the opposite end of the brush, thus avoiding anypossibility of the drippings-running down the sleeve or arm of the'user.

By means of a device of this character it is thus possible to readilyclean the molars on both sides, an operation which is obviouslydifiicult with present forms of tooth brushes. As the teeth are almostin contact when cleaning the posterior surfaces it is possible to hold alarge amount of cleansing material in the mouth and in this wav thecleansing material is forced into all of the cavities.

While I have shown and described, and have pointed out in the annexedclaims, certain novel features of my invention,\ it will be understoodthat various omissions, substitutions and changes in the f orm anddetails of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made bythose skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

. Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A tooth brush includinga head having an arcuate line of bristles forming a convex brushingsurface curved in two directions at right angles to each other andadapted to engage the anterior surface of both rows of teeth when therows are almost closed on each other, and a handle projecting laterallyfrom saidhead and disposed approximately midway between the uppery andlower edges of the brushing surface thereby to bring some Y bristlesagainst both the upper and lower teeth when the handle projects from themouth and between the partly closed rows of teeth. t

2. A tooth brush including an arcuate head provided with a brushingsurface on the conveXed side adapted to engage the anterior surface ofthe users teeth and provided on the concaved side with a recessfashioned to receive the tip of the persons tongue and thus permit thetongue to move and guide the brush.

3. A tooth brush for simultaneously brushing the posterior faces of bothrows of teeth when the rows are almost closed on each.

other,' said brush provided with a convex brushing surface curved in twodirections at an angle to each other with one curve being relativelylong and designed substantially to fit horizontally the row of teeth andthe other curve being at right angles to the first; namedcurverelatively short and designed substantially to. tit verticallyagainst the posterior faces of the teeth and a handle extendingcentrally from the brushing surface and designed to extend outwardlyfrom themouth between the rows of teeth.

4. A tooth brush for simultaneously brushing the posterior faces of bothrows of teeth when the rows are almost closed on each other, said brushprovided with a convex brushing surface curved in two directions at anangle to each other with one curve being relatively long and designedsubstantially to fit horizontally the row of teeth and the other curvebeing relatively short and designed substantially to fit verticallyagainst the posterior faces of the teeth, said brush provided with ahandle extending outwardly from the center of the brushing surfaceadapted to extend from the mouth between the almost closed rows ofteeth.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, this 28thv day of April, A. D. 1921.

HERMAN TAUB.

